Aaranya Kaandam Movie Review

“Aaranya Kaandam” is a classy gangster tale and the way it has been conceptualized and executed definitely needs recognition. The sad part of Tamil cinema is that brilliant efforts like this are hardly noted as it does not have the required masala ingredients packaged in it. There are good number of fights and the slew of foul mouthing that takes place but the absence of a saleable heroine and an item song does put the average movie-goer off and that eventually does have an impact on the commercial success of this film. The commercial success is so important as the more the moolah a film with a different style of approach rakes in, more people will queue up to make such movies which in the long run augurs well for the industry.

The film is about how a don Singamperumal (Jackie Shroff) lives his life with his gang and his concubine Subbu (Yasmin Ponnappa). Walks in his aide Pasupathy (Sampath) and gives an idea to Singamperumal that he would like to snatch a business deal from their competitors for which Singamperumal is hesitant. Annoyed by this Pasupathy instigates Singamperumal and he accepts to fund Pasupathy to carry out the business deal which is to smuggle a consignment of drugs from an agent before it reaches its destination.

When everyone thinks that from now on its going to be the normal feud and fight between the two gangs and it is all about how the rival gangs snatch the consignment on its way to its destination, here comes a surprising twist to the tale by director Thiagarajan Kumararaja who takes the viewers on a completely different and interesting ride that brings in lot of characters into the main plot without wagging from the path. Infact the twist that Sappai (Ravi Krishna) brings to the tale is somewhat predictable but the final nail in the coffin is the characterization of Subbu and honestly Yasmin Ponnappa has made most of the opportunity given to her in the role.

Ravi Krishna as the innocent guy in the gang wins over the heart of the viewers with his natural acting and the scenes in which he talks so innocently is worth watching. Another character worthy of mention is the little boy Kodukapuli (“Veyil” Vasanth) who again deserves appreciation for his acting. Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is scintillatingly different and without such music the movie would have lost its sheen a bit and considering the fact that there are no songs, its a job amazingly done by Yuvan.

Jackie Shroff displays his brilliance in acting time and again in the movie. However, its Sampath who holds a better edge than Jackie Shroff in terms of acting and also the length of his role in this film. The story and screenplay couldn’t get any better than this and its high time that our Tamil film makers try to deviate from the usual masala stuff and start experiment on something innovative and at the same time interesting for the viewers to cherish.

The movie is crisp thanks to the editing of Praveen K.L & Srikanth N.B. “Aaranya Kaandam” has a running time of 120 minutes and it is sad to note that such films are most likely to fare better in the metros than in the B & C centres of Tamil Cinema which contributes a major pie to the overall box-office collections.

Director Thiagarajan Kumararaja should make more and more such innovative and interesting films that would help bring up the level of Tamil Cinema to global standards in terms of innovative story telling. It was heartening to note that this film achieved international acclaim when it bagged an award at the “New York South Asian International Film Festival 2010”. Kudos to producer S P Charan for having produced this “Aaranya Kaandam”.

“ Aaranya Kandaam” is a must watch film and it definitely stands poles apart from the usual masala flicks.